The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) fell today. The Tel Aviv 25 Index fell 0.26% to 1,195.75 points, the Tel Aviv 100 Index fell 0.20% to 1,069.35 points, but the BlueTech 50 Index rose 0.15% to 296.18 points. Turnover was NIS 1.17 billion.
A late plunge sent the leading TASE indices into negative territory, despite gains on European markets and at the opening on Wall Street, the day after the Bank of Israel kept the interest rate for July unchanged at 1.25%, but cut its 2014 growth forecast for Israel to 3.2%.
In the foreign currency market, the Bank of Israel set the shekel-dollar representative exchange rate at NIS 3.634/$, up 0.13% on Friday's rate, and set the shekel-euro representative exchange rate at NIS 4.762/€, down 0.64%.
In the bond market, both government Shahar unlinked shekel bonds and CPI-linked Galil bonds rose. The corporate bond benchmark Tel-Bond 20 Index rose 0.12%.
In the stock market, telcos continued to gain ground, with Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) rising 2.9% for the biggest gain among Tel Aviv 25 shares. Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) and Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) both rose 1.3%.
Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) was unchanged on the day's biggest turnover of NIS 128.7 million, but parent company Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) fell 2.3% for the biggest loss among Tel Aviv 25 shares.
Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) fell 2.1%, helping drive down the Insurance Index. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) fell 0.8% and Perrigo Company (NYSE:PRGO; TASE:PRGO) fell 2.1%.
Elsewhere in the market, Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:MLNX; TASE:MLNX) rose 5.2% on reports of major contracts. Tel Aviv 100 companies Allot Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq:ALLT; TASE: ALLT) rose 11.4%, but
Ceragon Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq: CRNT; TASE:CRNT) fell 1.4% after filing a lawsuit over an acquisition made two years ago.
Small-Cap IceCure Ltd. (TASE: ICCM) rose another 10.1% to complete a 360% gain in a week.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 25, 2013
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